• Awards For All update
• Breathing Places
• Family Learning
• Upcoming events in your region

Regional Introduction

Welcome to the July edition of our regional e-bulletin.

This month's update includes recent awards made under our Reaching Communities, Awards for All, Playful Ideas, Breathing Places and Family Learning programmes.

We are currently in contact with our Children’s Play projects to encourage them to organise local events which will mark National Playday on 9 August. ThePlayday campaign calls for children to be allowed challenging and adventurous play opportunities and aims to shake off the 'cotton wool' culture that can limit children’s play.

Activities such as Brighton and Hove Council’s recent event to celebrate the launch of their new playbus will be on offer on and around 9 August. The event saw the bus being opened up to the general public and Jubilee Square was filled with children riding go-karts, juggling and enjoying the soft play equipment. The playbus, funded through our Children’s Play programme, will provide an outreach service for children and young people across Brighton and Hove delivering a range of activities for all ages.

If you are considering holding an event or would like to find out if an event is being held in your area, visit the Playday website for details.

We hope you find this update useful and we welcome your news and views.

Alison Rowe, Head of Region

Playful Ideas

Milton Keynes Play Association (MKPA) is awarded £246,232 to launch a Creative Play Boat, which will be a narrow boat with a difference, carrying aboard a treasure trove of play equipment to widen the play opportunities for children aged eight to thirteen.

The 65ft narrow boat will be cruising its way down the Grand Union Canal as part of the Big Lottery Fund’s Playful Ideas programme, which funds new projects that provide free access to innovative and creative play.

Andy Grout, Executive Director, Milton Keynes Play Association, said: “This is a terrific opportunity not only for MKPA, but for the children, young people and the communities of Milton Keynes. The Grand Union canal is a main arterial route through the city, touching a diversity of communities and need. Beyond Milton Keynes we can deliver play opportunities to the rural areas from Bedfordshire in the south to Northampton in the north.”

During their time aboard the children can enjoy a variety of fun and games including arts and crafts, music making, learning about local wildlife and water safety. They will also be able to enjoy play both on and off the boat, making full use of the green spaces and woodlands that surround the canal towpaths.

Find out more about our Playful Ideas programme.

Reaching Communities

People most in need across the region will benefit as nearly three quarters of a million pounds in Reaching Communities grants makes its way to three groups across the South East.

KCA UK’s Sunlight Project has received £452,687 to provide support, stability and structure to children living with substance-dependent parents in East Kent. The grant means that KCA can expand its project and engage more young people in confidence building activities such as drama, sport, art and music.

Director of Young Person’s services for KCA, Claire Goulding, said: "This is fantastic news.Children from families where substance misuse is a big problem are among the most vulnerable and disadvantaged in our society. We are thrilled to be able to continue and expand the work that we have been doing in deprived areas of Kent, where this work is vital to the well-being of these children".

Also successful in the South East this month is Thanet-based Oasis Independent Domestic Violence Advocacy Service with an award of  £240,519 to support outreach services to counter the impact of Thanet’s high levels of domestic violence with practical and emotional support for hundreds of people in the area.

Tina Alexander, Oasis Independent Domestic Violence Advocate, said: “Unfortunately Thanet has the highest level of domestic abuse in Kent, 24 per cent higher than the national average. There are hundreds of women, men and children in the area who are suffering from sometimes life-threatening abuse at the hands of someone whom they believed loved them.”

For more information on our recent awards, please visit our website.

Awards For All update

The latest announcement from Awards for All sees 62 projects in the South East sharing £455,428. One such project is the Firecracker Amateur Boxing Club with a £4,035 grant to run a new weekly club for boys and girls aged five to 15 and to buy new training equipment.

Ed Summers, Coach and spokesperson, said: “There’s not a lot else for children in this area and as time goes on we’re having to expand. This funding has come at the right time because we were getting close to having to turn people away and I was even paying for venue hire out of my own pocket for a while.”

Other grants made in this round of awards include: Brighton & Hove Volunteer Healthwalk Leaders with a grant of £4,973 to train locals to become volunteer health walk leaders, New Milton Cafe Light Youth Project will spend a £9,210 award on providing an outreach sports worker to involve children in alternative activities to combat anti-social behaviour and The Canterbury Theatre and Festival Trust receives £9,046 to stage a parade to open the Canterbury Festival.

For more information on the Awards for All scheme and for a full list of recent awards, please visit the Awards for All website

Breathing Places

With over £300,000 worth of grants being made in the South East region as part of the latest round of the Breathing Places programme, 39 green-fingered groups have their wellies and spades ready to create a green haven for their communities to enjoy after receiving grants of up to £10,000.

Blean Parish Council will be working with the community to use its £8,451 grant to start work on transforming redundant agricultural land into a nature reserve complete with a wildflower meadow, natural pond, native shrubs, fruit trees, a pathway, benches and information boards.

William Leetham, Chairman of the Parish Council, said: “The land we’ve purchased hasn’t been farmed on for about four years so there’s a lot of work to be done but we’re really excited and we can’t wait to get underway. It will be great to have a beautiful area for everyone to enjoy, somewhere they can go to relax and appreciate the nature that’s on their doorstep.”

Also successful in the South East is the Isle of White based Oglander Roman Trust. A grant of £10,000 will see the Meadow Project get underway with a meadow trail featuring environmentally friendly sculptures, shelters for small mammals and even a bug hotel.

Chris Piggott, Chief Executive of the Oglander Roman Trust, said: “The site is already very beautiful and we were amazed with the sort of wild flowers and animals we had there but it’s not easily accessible and it’s being underused. We’re going to get the community involved in transforming the space by holding workshops to find out what people want to see there and also get people working on the land with us.”

For more information on our recent awards, please visit our website.

Family Learning

Hundreds of Reading families will soon be putting on their thinking caps in a bid to create the best working model vehicles as part of an innovative project funded through our Family Learning programme.

Denefield School were awarded nearly £9,000 to run a five-year project, which will engage pupils and their families, helping them to spend quality time together while learning essential literacy, numeracy and communication skills. Families will be asked to work together to build model vehicles which will compete in the ‘Whacky Scrap Races’

Susan Guy, Extended Schools Manager based at Denefield School, said: “When we consulted with families from the six schools we found family learning activities were high on the agenda. A lot of parents and carers were saying they didn’t feel they had the quality time with their children where they could be together, having fun away from the normal stresses and strains of life.”

Whacky Scrap Races teams will use materials brought from home in conjunction with construction sets like Meccano to create their machines. And everyone will be encouraged to use renewable energy sources like solar panels to fuel their models, promoting environmental awareness.

Find out more about our Family Learning programme.

Upcoming events in your region

In September we are holding two events around our Changing Spaces programme. While these events are aimed at funding advice workers and will be by invitation only, if you are in contact with an organisation that advises others on funding opportunities please pass on our details.

To find out more about the Changing Spaces programme please visit the website.

The South East regional team will also be speaking at the following events in the region:

Thanet Voluntary and Community Sector Forum Conference

Wednesday 3^rd September 9.30am to 1.00pm

The conference is targeted at voluntary and community organisations that work in and around Thanet. The conference will explore funding opportunities open to voluntary and community organisations and look at different ways to diversifying funding sources.

For more details on the event please visit the website.

East Berkshire Funding Fair

Wedneday 8^th October 9.30am to 2.30pm

The East Berkshire Funding Fair is open to voluntary and community organisations based in Slough, Windsor and Maidenhead and Bracknell. The day will include workshops, one to one sessions and guest speakers.

For more details of this event please visit their website or email Lorna on lallen@sloughcvs.org.uk